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Dietary potassium regulates vascular calcification and arterial stiffness
Yong Sun, … , Hui Wu, Yabing Chen
Yong Sun, … , Hui Wu, Yabing Chen
Published October 5, 2017
Citation Information: JCI Insight. 2017;2(19):e94920. https://doi.org/10.1172/jci.insight.94920.
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Research Article Vascular biology

Dietary potassium regulates vascular calcification and arterial stiffness

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Abstract

Vascular calcification is a risk factor that predicts adverse cardiovascular complications of several diseases including atherosclerosis. Reduced dietary potassium intake has been linked to cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension and incidental stroke, although the underlying molecular mechanisms remain largely unknown. Using the ApoE-deficient mouse model, we demonstrated for the first time to our knowledge that reduced dietary potassium (0.3%) promoted atherosclerotic vascular calcification and increased aortic stiffness, compared with normal (0.7%) potassium–fed mice. In contrast, increased dietary potassium (2.1%) attenuated vascular calcification and aortic stiffness. Mechanistically, reduction in the potassium concentration to the lower limit of the physiological range increased intracellular calcium, which activated a cAMP response element–binding protein (CREB) signal that subsequently enhanced autophagy and promoted vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) calcification. Inhibition of calcium signals and knockdown of either CREB or ATG7, an autophagy regulator, attenuated VSMC calcification induced by low potassium. Consistently, elevated autophagy and CREB signaling were demonstrated in the calcified arteries from low potassium diet–fed mice as well as aortic arteries exposed to low potassium ex vivo. These studies established a potentially novel causative role of dietary potassium intake in regulating atherosclerotic vascular calcification and stiffness, and uncovered mechanisms that offer opportunities to develop therapeutic strategies to control vascular disease.

Authors

Yong Sun, Chang Hyun Byon, Youfeng Yang, Wayne E. Bradley, Louis J. Dell’Italia, Paul W. Sanders, Anupam Agarwal, Hui Wu, Yabing Chen

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Figure 2

Potassium regulated vascular calcification ex vivo.

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Potassium regulated vascular calcification ex vivo.
Aortic rings prepare...
Aortic rings prepared from wild-type mice were exposed to osteogenic media with control (5.4 mM), low potassium (3.7 mM, Low K+), or high potassium (6.0 mM, High K+) for 3 weeks. (A) Aortic calcification, determined in consecutive sections of the aortic rings by Alizarin red staining (middle panels). H&E staining (left panels) was performed for histology. Higher-magnification images of the boxed areas in the middle panels are shown in the right panels. Representative images from 4 independent experiments performed in duplicate are shown. Scale bars: 200 μm (left and middle panels) and 50 μm (right panels). (B) Total calcium content of aortic rings in each group determined by Arsenazo III in separated sets of experiments. Results shown are normalized by total protein amount. Bar values are means ± SD (n = 4, *P < 0.01). Statistical analysis was performed by 1-way ANOVA followed by a Student-Newman-Keuls test.

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